What Christmas Jazz (and beyond) CD (or LP) are you listening to right now?

[mikeweil]

Today:

French songs and dances from a late 19th century French songbook LeBlanc's cousin gave to her - presented in an attractive sytle between early music, folklore, and even some jazzy touches - and the way she sings all this is wonderful!

Excellent, lovingly performed classic variation treatments of French Christmas songs.

Edited December 24, 2018 by mikeweil

[duaneiac]

This was the second Christmas album made by Brave Combo and this time around they were (mostly) "live", with the tracks here culled from two seasonal shows in 2007.  A pair of studio tracks were recorded in 2008.  Brave Combo is certainly a band which needs to be experienced live to be fully appreciated, and from the opening notes of "We Three Kings (Cha Cha)" here, I knew this was the holiday experience for me!

[JSngry]

Not The Monkees, but then again, neither are they.

[Tom 1960]

I picked up a few Christmas recordings this year and this one is easily the best.

[duaneiac]

[mikeweil]

For morning coffee:

In the car during some final shopping:

At home again:

And right now, one of my favourites, a killer of a Christmas album:

[HutchFan]

21 hours ago, JSngry said:

Not The Monkees, but then again, neither are they.

Nice zinger. Made me smile.  

[mikeweil]

[duaneiac]

[mikeweil]

Germany's best a capella vocal group in a brand new release that might please fans of the King's Singers as well as those of the Hi-Lo's - had my wife unwrap this first, and as I expected, she loved it-

A gift from a longtime dear friend -  three fantastic German musicians playing their own highly original arrangements of German Christmas songs - accordionist Martin Wagner is absolutely great! This will appeal to anybody who likes this instrument even though he might not know the songs.

http://www.tango-transit.de/musik/neu-cd-engelrausch-froehliche-stille-nacht/

[medjuck]

Of course I like the Charles Brown Version too, but this is 7 minutes plus of Elvis singing the blues. 

[JSngry]

A alleged gift from Lester Koenig via the blogosphere. I don't think so. But anyway, op art cover for Christmas.

[mikeweil]

One of the most enjoyable of all the Xmas label compilations I have.

[mikeweil]

[mikeweil]

This arrived only today - had to give it a listen. While it's nice, it's also a typical Wynton disc- rather polished and clean, a lttle too much for my taste. Kathleen Battle's rendition of "Silent Night" borders on Kitsch, would have been better with a jazz singer. On the other hand it is the nicest that he called Jon Hendricks for the sessions, which is the reason I will keep it.

Edited January 4, 2019 by mikeweil

[GA Russell]

I learned something over the weekend regarding the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross 1961 recording, "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash., and Kalamazoo."

That line comes from Walt Kelly's Pogo strips of  Dec. 22, 1948, and Dec. 22, 1949.

Kelly is given co-author credit on the CD.

https://www.amazon.com/Hipsters-Holiday-Vocal-Jazz-Classics/dp/B0000032QP/

https://www.amazon.com/Pogo-Complete-Sunday-Strips-Through/dp/1560978694/

[Dave Garrett]

1 hour ago, GA Russell said:

I learned something over the weekend regarding the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross 1961 recording, "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash., and Kalamazoo."

That line comes from Walt Kelly's Pogo strips of  Dec. 22, 1948, and Dec. 22, 1949.

Kelly is given co-author credit on the CD.

https://www.amazon.com/Hipsters-Holiday-Vocal-Jazz-Classics/dp/B0000032QP/

https://www.amazon.com/Pogo-Complete-Sunday-Strips-Through/dp/1560978694/

"Boston Charlie" appeared many times in Pogo over the years around Christmastime - here's a Sunday strip from 1971:

[GA Russell]

That's great, Dave!

[duaneiac]

I suppose most folks who heard the LH&R recording back when it first came out would have been aware of where the lyrics came from.  "Pogo" in its heyday was about as big as "Peanuts" and the "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie" song pretty much became an annual tradition in the strip.  I knew it when I was a kid about the time the above comic strip was first printed.

Seeing that 1971 strip printed above was a true delight, especially now when there is not a cartoonist on the comic pages today who could draw his/her way out of a paper bag.  This particular strip was a little late in the game for Walt Kelly, so the backgrounds are not as detailed as they might have been a few years before, but just look at the artistry, the lettering, the movement, the color and the humor (there is literally something funny in each panel and there is a separate running gag between the mouse and frog in the lower right hand corner) of that 48 year old strip.  Sure beats the pants off of "Garfield". 

It may be after the season, but here is a version of this tune with all the verses and some great illustrations by Mr. Kelly:

 

[Dave Garrett]

On 1/19/2019 at 2:36 PM, duaneiac said:

Seeing that 1971 strip printed above was a true delight, especially now when there is not a cartoonist on the comic pages today who could draw his/her way out of a paper bag. 

There's still at least one active cartoonist whose skills are comparable to the old-school guys, Gasoline Alley's Jim Scancarelli. But more often than not, GA has been recycling older strips of late (with the exception of the recent arc commemorating the strip's 100th anniversary), and there's been plenty of speculation as to how long Scancarelli will continue drawing it before opting for retirement. 

[mikeweil]

No 2019 posts here??!? My excuse is that our phone and internet was off until a week ago, and I was too busy with other things until a few days ago. My Xmas jazz so far:

Edited December 26, 2019 by mikeweil

[Gheorghe]

on first view you might not think this is Chrismas related,  but it is. 

Dexter Plays a whole chorus of "Chrismas Song" as a cadenza after a (quite rambling) Body and Soul.

And during that kind of rambling set closers that were part of Dexter´s shows, he attempts to quote "White Chrismas" which has to be completed by Kirk Leightsey, and same Thing with "Have yourself a Merry Chrismas". 

[GA Russell]

Hamilton Books has a number of Christmas vinyl albums for $3.95

Beach Boys
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/the-beach-boys-holiday-favorites-vinyl-record

Sinatra
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/the-frank-sinatra-christmas-collection-vinyl-record

Johnny Cash
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/johnny-cash-christmas-favorites-vinyl-record

Crooners
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/crooners-christmas-classics-vinyl-record

and Crosby $2.95 CD
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/bing-crosby-white-christmas-compact-disc

[jlhoots]

None yet - BUT I'll get my Mars Williams Ayler Christmas CDs out soon.

[danasgoodstuff]

On 12/25/2019 at 10:27 AM, mikeweil said:

No 2019 posts here??!? My excuse is that our phone and internet was off until a week ago, and I was too busy with other things until a few days ago. My Xmas jazz so far:

I love that the last two on Prestige are consecutive catalog numbers and share the same title - how lazy a day were they having at the office that day? Both fine records, but couldn't they at least call one 'Holiday Soul' and the other 'Soul Holiday'!?